Military warns about restlessness

Military warns about restlessness

JAKARTA (JP): A senior military official acknowledges a
growing restlessness and impatience on some parts of society over
national development, a new phenomenon which could have a serious
impact on national unity.

Maj. Gen. Syarwan Hamid, assistant to the Armed Forces (ABRI)
chief for social-political affairs, told a discussion on
sectarian politics here yesterday that the restlessness and
impatience may be shared by many more people.

"All of us are actually restless and impatient, too, because
we think -- how come the nation only achieved this much after
fifty years of independence?" he said. "Why isn't all of the
national development a picture of success?"

He pointed out that it is not the restlessness and impatience
that mattered so much. Instead, what is important is how people
channel their feelings in a constructive, not destructive,
manner.

He acknowledged that Indonesia was "late" in starting its
development effort, a condition brought about by various factors,
including the communist uprising in the 1960s.

"Late as it was, we couldn't move and develop straight away,"
he said. Instead, the country had to build order in various
spheres in life.

"We have to first put order into ideology, politics,
economics, social cultural or security and defense, which were
destroyed by the communist uprising and political experimentation
during the previous era," he said.

The discussion was part of a two-day national symposium on
Islam and various related subjects, held by the Association of
Indonesian Moslem Intellectuals (ICMI) concurrently with its
second congress.

Syarwan and former minister of environment Emil Salim spoke
about sectarian politics. Both men discussed the mushrooming of
new mass organizations in the past several months, which some
analysts charged was inspired by the wish of some parties in
society to challenge the increasingly influential ICMI.

"The establishment of those new organizations, I feel, is an
expression of that restlessness and impatience," he said.

He pointed out that the trend could have either positive or
negative impacts. The establishment of new organizations is
positive if viewed from the perspective of "dynamics of
democracy", he said.

He said that the trend was in line with the Constitution, and
"constructive and positive as well for the national development".

The trend may be educational for the nation. However, it can
also have a negative impact, he said.

"Politically, the trend has the potentials to give birth to
sectarianism, while socially and culturally it can strengthen
'primordialism'", he said. "Sectarianism and primordialism are
the main cause of disintegration."

He called for all parties in society to be alert and prevent
disintegration. "ABRI calls for it, for the sake of the national
unity only," he said. "Unity is the commitment of ABRI".

He acknowledged that the stance of ABRI over the quest for
national unity and integration has its own risk, especially in
this time of "information and globalization openness".

"ABRI has often been forced to endure embarrassment, because
its commitment toward unity is viewed by some parties as an
inability to face differences of opinion," he said.

ABRI's call for the public to care about the national
stability and resilience is viewed as a drive to stifle
creativity and dynamics, or to maintain the status quo, he said.

"For me, these views prove that ... our vision and
orientations are not entirely the same," he said. "As a result,
the means we want to use to meet the commitment cannot be totally
unified".

Through the implementation of its "dual function" concept,
which sees ABRI as both a security and a social-political force,
ABRI sees Indonesia's unity as the presence of all of its
components.

"If there's one ethnic group less here, it's not Indonesia. If
there's one political grouping less here, it's not Indonesia. If
there's one religious group less here, it's not Indonesia," he
said.

"ABRI is of the principle that the whole is strong because of
its strong components, and parts or components should not be
strong for themselves either, they should be strong for the sake
of the national strength," he said. (swe)

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